courirvscourraWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“courir” and “courra” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,707
“courir” frequency rank
#48,436
“courra” frequency rank
51143
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature courir courra
Definition Se déplacer rapidement, avec impétuosité, par un mouvement alternatif des jambes ou des pattes prenant appui sur le sol, avec une phase de suspension en l’air, sans appui. Troisième personne du singulier du futur de courir.

Where the eye mixes courir and courra

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. courir (CVVCVC) and courra (CVVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
courir
6 ch
courra

Visual trap between courir and courra

A purely visual mix-up. courir (\ku.ʁiʁ\) and courra (\kuʁ.ʁa\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51143, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

courir is recorded at frequency rank #2,707, classified as averb, pronounced \ku.ʁiʁ\. courra is at rank #48,436, tagged as averb, pronounced \kuʁ.ʁa\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 51143, this pair ranks #157,247 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of courir vs courra

Shared letters: coru. Private to "courir": i. Private to "courra": a.

"courir" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "courra" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • courir ← ccourir · coruir · couirr · courirr · courri · courrir · cuorir · ocurir
  • courra ← ccourra · corura · coura · courar · cuorra · ocurra

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "courir" and "courra" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ku.ʁiʁ\ versus \kuʁ.ʁa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "courir" vs "courra" - which ranks higher?
"courir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,707 in our French list, against #48,436 for "courra". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "courir" and "courra" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "courir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "courra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #157,247 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "courir" and "courra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coupa vs courra". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #157,247 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list